Feelings
by Z-Pikachu
Summary: You could say that Pikachu and Ash are really stuck together. Ashachu or Ashchu (whichever you prefer). Pikashipping.


Feelings

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Pokémon or anything created by anyone else. **

**A/N: You probably won't read this A/N (I know I wouldn't), but if you do you should know that I have fixed feelings about this story. I like and hate it. I worked on this for about four days straight so I'm pretty proud of it. If you notice any mistakes please tell me so I can correct them. A lot of the idea for this story came from an episode I saw where Pikachu and Meowth were tethered together. I thought it would be interesting if it had Ashachu in the situation as well. Please tell me your opinions. If you wish to flame this story because Pikachu is a girl please do. Flames are good for making toast :) **

_**Italics **_**= thoughts or enthuses **

**Bold = forceful**

…

"Gosh darn it. I'm a Pikachu _again. _It's like I'm destined to be a Pikachu or something," Ash complained looking at himself in a mirror he was holding. He held his ear up with one hand then let go of it and watched it fall. He sighed smoothing out his still unruly, but now yellow hair.

Pikachu felt her ears twitch. _"Ash destined to be a Pikachu? Hmm that's really interesting. I like him as a Pikachu,"_ She thought to herself then blushed.

"Why must this stuff always happen to me? This time my hat won't even fit on my head properly." He announced kicking his hat with contempt.

"It might help if you don't go drinking random 'lemonade' from a scientist's fridge in the middle of a lab room," Brock advised picking up his hat and putting it on the counter.

"But I was really thirsty and it looked like lemonade to me."

"It was in a beaker, Ash, and it was glowing," Dawn said finally not as shocked as she was earlier. "I'm not surprised, now that I think about it, that you turned into a Pikachu. I am surprised, however, that weirder stuff didn't happen. At least you can still talk. But what I don't understand is that you said you turned into a Pikachu _again_. Has this happened before?"

"Yes it has. It happened a while ago. I think it was 2 years ago, but anyways Ash, Misty who was another person who travelled with us, and I were traveling in the Johto Region when we met a Pokémon magician," Brock started.

"I guess she did more than just magic tricks?" Dawn asked while Piplup did the same.

"She certainly did. We helped her with a~"

Ash drifted over to Pikachu tired of listening to Brock explain all that had happened that day. "I wish I could understand what you said. That would be really cool. We could create whole new battle strategies if I could understand you!"

"I wish you could too," Pikachu said sadly. Ash stared at her. "What?" Pikachu asked after a couple seconds.

"You talked!"

"Yeah I always- what? Really? You can understand me?" Pikachu asked excitement growing in her voice.

"Yes. I can understand you perfectly." Ash said also growing excited.

"What should we do then? Oooh we should probably tell Brock, Dawn, and Piplup. They would want to know."

Ash looked back at Brock still explaining to Dawn and Piplup what had happened that day. Ash turned back to Pikachu. "Nah. I know what we should do. Come on," At this Ash grabbed Pikachu's wrist and tried to run outside. All Ash did was fall forwards after a dozen steps and roll over and over until he landed on his back with an _ooof_.

Pikachu stumbled behind him trying to stop, but didn't manage to stop fast enough. She tripped over his fallen body and landed on top of him. Pikachu looked into Ash's deep brown eyes.

"You're supposed to run on four legs. Remember? This is why you don't run on two legs," Pikachu sighed.

"Oh yeah. I forgot," He chuckled. He then paused looking at Pikachu. Pikachu didn't say anything. After a couple seconds Ash suggested, "Maybe you should get off me. You make it hard to breathe."

Pikachu blushed realizing the awkward position they were in. _"Why am I blushing? It's just Ash,"_ She pondered while rolling off him. She stood back up and Ash did the same a moment later.

They both brushed themselves off before Ash said, "Okay, lets go." This time Ash ran on all fours and made it outside without much incident. Pikachu followed him quickly from behind. Ash somehow got ahead of her when he rounded the corner because the door to outside was already open by the time she got to it.

Making her way out of the dark lab she squinted at the harsh sunlight. _"Now where did he go?" _she pondered. Pikachu looked to her right to see Ash standing on top of a hill not ten feet away. He was standing completely still staring out at the land around him.

Approaching him she asked, "What are you doing?"

"It looks weird from down here. Being so short surprisingly makes everything look completely different. I was just out here less than two hours ago and I can't see anything that seems familiar. I mean the colors look different, it smells different, it sounds different, I bet it even tastes different!" Ash exclaimed.

Pikachu stared at him. He never shared these thoughts the last time this had happened so long ago. She had never really even thought about how different the world was to Pokémon and humans. She always assumed it was the same to both. "I never thought about Pokémon having senses different than humans. So what's it like?"

Ash looked at her then turned his attention towards the sky. "Well… It smells a lot stronger than before. Everything seems to have a distinct smell all its own."

"And humans can't tell the difference between things by smell?" Pikachu asked utterly shocked.

"No way. I usually couldn't smell something unless I purposely tried too, but now I can't help from smelling everything. Even you."

"What do I smell like?" Pikachu asked curiously.

"You actually smell really nice. Kinda like a mix of apples and honey."

Pikachu bent over laughing. Tears started to form in her eyes from laughing so hard and her stomach started to hurt.

"What's so funny?" Ash asked her confused.

"Everything probably… smells… like food… to you." She said between laughs.

Ash frowned crossing his arms. "Does not."

"Sure," Pikachu said sarcastically.

"Anyways, everything is a lot louder now, and everything seems to be a lot more colorful." Ash said changing the subject.

"Well it's interesting. That's for sure."

"Everything about being a Pikachu seems to be much more vibrant."

"Of course it is. Pikachu are the best Pokémon ever. Way better than those stupid Raichu anyways.

…

Brock finished the whole explanation. Dawn stared at him while Piplup looked down at the ground in thought.

"What other crazy things have you had happen to you while traveling with Ash?" Dawn asked.

"We've done all kinds of crazy stuff over the years. You've seen some of the stuff we have done with Ash. Right, Ash?" Hearing no response from Ash he looked to where he had last saw Ash. "Ash?" Brock didn't see Ash or Pikachu anywhere. "Now where could they go off to?"

"Knowing Ash they probably went off to train." Dawn told Brock.

"Yeah. You're probably right. That's Ash for you. Come on we should probably tell Dr. Thompson about this. It is his lab after all. He would want to know about something like this."

Brock, Dawn, and Piplup then started off in search of Thompson. They wished that they had been paying attention when he specified where they could find him.

…

"Okay. Enough talking. Let's do some training now," Ash said looking back at Pikachu.

"All right, what kind of training do you have in mind?"

"What do you mean 'what kind'?"

"Well are we going to train me or you?"

"Train… me?" Ash asked confused.

"Think about it. You are a Pikachu now. You could learn all kinds of new moves now. You're a Pokémon."

Ash gasped, "I never realized that! You're right I can learn all kinds of electric attacks. This is so awesome! I'm going to learn a whole bunch of cool moves. Ok how do I use an electric attack? For example thundershock?"

"Well… um," Pikachu paused thinking. She had never really thought about how she used electric attacks. "You have to first imagine yourself using a thundershock attack." She said saying the first thing that came to mind.

"Okay, got it," Ash said. He then tightly closed his eyes in concentration. After ten seconds of nothing happing he opened them again. "What did I do wrong?"

Pikachu thought for a couple seconds then snapped her fingers. "I got it," she announced.

"What is it?"

"Watch," Pikachu said stepping closer to Ash. She then pinched his cheeks harshly.

"Ow, that hurts what are you doing?" Ash said flinching in pain. _"What is she doing? How is this suppose to help?" _he thought to himself.

"Just watch," she said letting go of his cheeks.

Ash watched in amazement as huge sparks leaped off his cheeks. He watched them fall until they hit the grass leaving sear marks. He then rubbed his sore cheeks.

"How did you do that?" Ash asked flabbergasted.

"I realized that using electric attacks is all in the cheek muscles. That's why every time we sneeze we release an electric attack. The muscles in your cheeks control the electricity."

"So I just try to scrunch up my cheeks to unleash an attack?"

"Pretty much. You also have to let the energy flow I guess after that."

"Okay here I go," he said releasing a weak bolt of lightning that only went four feet before fading out.

"No, no, no. You have to put more force into it!"

"Come on," he encouraged himself. This time a slightly better bolt of lightning was released from his cheeks.

"Oh boy," Pikachu said shaking her head, "This isn't going to be easy."

…

After searching for Dr. Thompson for what seemed forever in his huge laboratory/house they finally found him in his study reading a huge dusty manual of some kind.

He was old, probably in his mid-sixties. He had a huge moustache that completely obscured his mouth and was sporting a terrible toupee that didn't match the rest of his white hair. He was wearing a well-used lab coat and thick-rimmed glasses. He was the definition of an aging nerd.

Seeing the teenager, pre-teen, and penguin Pokémon enter his study he asked looking over the manual in his weirdly deep voice, "Did you find what you're looking for?"

"No we didn't find the royal herb."

Before Brock could finish Thompson cut in, "Well the herbs and other plants are just down the hall and four doors to the right."

"That's not what we wanted to talk about," Dawn told him.

"Well, what is it then?" he asked curiously.

"You see Ash drank one of your potions in a refrigerator because he thought it was lemonade and~,"

Suddenly Thompson was at his feet and the chair was knocked over. He slammed the manual down with a loud thud. "Which one did he drink?!"

"The glowing yellow one."

"In the giant beaker?"

"Yes."

"Oh God."

"What's wrong? How bad is it?"

"That was one of my experimental transformation potions. Tell me what happened after he drank it? Did he drink all of it?"

"Yes he drank the whole thing then he turned into a Pikachu."

Thompson was over to them in a flash. He started dragging them out the door. "Where is he?" Thompson asked hurriedly rushing down the corridor.

"We don't know. Ash and Pikachu ran outside when we were talking." Brock answered.

Rounding the corner Thompson opened one of the doors with a key. "Wait here," he instructed. After a minute he returned with a small vial filled with a seemingly innocent clear liquid. "This is the antidote to any huge transformation. This should cure your friend, but we have to get to him quick. It only works four hours or less after any major transformation. If we don't get to him in the next four hours he'll be a Pikachu forever."

…

Pikachu sighed sitting next to Ash. They had just finished a small practice battle. Pikachu had won of course even with her holding back by huge amounts. Ash was obviously stronger than a normal just evolved Pikachu, but he wasn't as strong as a normal Pikachu either. It had been a quick battle, but it had really tired Ash out. He didn't have the stamina yet to do any major battles.

"You know my throat really hurts now. I probably just need some water so it wouldn't be so dry." Ash said.

Pikachu looked at Ash. Something was different about him. She couldn't just tell what.

"Pikachu? What's wrong? Why are you staring at me?"

Suddenly it all clicked. "You're speaking in Pikachu now!"

"What?" he yelled shocked.

"Try talking in human." Pikachu suggested. Ash tried, but all that came out was 'Pikachu'.

"You didn't notice at all?"

"No. It still sounds to me like I'm talking normal."

Before Pikachu could respond a giant hand came out of nowhere and snatched them both up in a death grip.

…

**Earlier**

Three members of Team Rocket were in a balloon heading towards the laboratory/ house of Dr. Thompson.

"Are you sure they went this way?" asked a man with blue hair in a white uniform.

"I'm absolutely sure, James," said a women with long red hair also in a white uniform.

"The last time you said dat, Jessie, you got us lost in a forest in the middle of nowhere." A meowth informed her.

"Shut up, Meowth, no one cares," She said hitting him with a frying pan.

"I do," James started to say until he saw Jessie raising the frying pan.

"That's what I thought." Jessie said smugly.

Suddenly Meowth said, "Look at dat. It's Pikachu without a twerp in sight."

"Really?" James asked looking over the edge. "What about that other Pikachu right next to her?"

"Doesn't matter. It's a two for one deal. Let's get them."

"They won't know what hit them," Meowth said hitting the large red button on a remote he was holding.

…

**Present**

"Pikachu looked at Ash and whispered, "Don't say a thing. Let me do the talking. They don't need to know."

Ash nodded silently.

The crushing hand raised them up and up until it finally let go of them and dropped them in the basket with James, Jessie, and Meowth. Before Pikachu could even release her thunderbolt Meowth attached a metal cable to both Pikachu and Ash and locked it with a key. Pikachu tried to then unleash the thunderbolt, but all it did was travel through the cable connecting her to Ash and shocked him causing him to scream in pain.

"Muhahahahaha," Meowth laughed. "With dis cable all your attacks will do is shock your little friend there. This is a good payback to the time we were stuck in that cable."

"What do you want, Meowth?" Pikachu asked enraged.

"What do you think? You of course! The world's best Pikachu."

"You won't get away with this!" She said.

"We already are." He replied evilly.

"Uh-oh. Twerps at 12'oclock," James said.

Sure enough Brock, Dawn, Piplup, and Thompson were running towards the balloon.

"Team Rocket, give us back Pikachu right now," Brock commanded.

Jessie squinted. "I don't see Ash. Where is he? I would think he would want to get Pikachu back the most."

Before they could say anything more; Dawn commanded Piplup to use his bubblebeam.

"Oh-no, not a good idea." Pikachu thought.

The bubblebeam soared through the air and struck the balloon head on. The balloon exploded and everyone was sent soaring. Pikachu hit her head on something as she and Ash flew off.

As everything started to fade she thought she heard, "We're blasting off again."

"That's going to really hurt later," was the last thing she thought before passing out.

…

Dawn, Brock, and Piplup stood dumbstruck. Even Thompson was surprised.

"What are we going to do now?" Dawn asked picking up Piplup.

"I guess we are going to have to go find them. I think I saw them fly off that way," Brock said pointing to his right.

Out of the blue Thompson's phone started ringing in a loud monotone screech. Thompson fumbled in his pocket and managed to pull the phone out. After looking at the caller ID he walked away so that Dawn and Brock were out of earshot. Dawn and Brock then looked at each other in confusion.

"Piplup?" Piplup asked confused as well.

Three minutes later Thompson walked back and gave the small vial to Brock.

"Give this to Ash. No matter what make sure that he drinks the whole thing. The whole entire thing. Every last drop. You think you can do this?"

"Yeah, but~"

"No time for buts I have to go. Bye," he said running back to his house/laboratory.

"That was strange," Dawn said.

"It was. Come on we have to find Ash and Pikachu we're running out of time," Brock said running into the forest where he thought Pikachu and Ash had gone. Dawn swiftly followed with Piplup in her arms.

…

Ash opened his eyes then quickly shut them again. He was at least thirty feet off the ground. He slowly opened his eyes again. He looked up and saw that the cable was stuck on a tree limb. His eyes followed the cable until they landed on Pikachu. He started to freak out. There were gobs of blood all over the back of her head.

"_Is she okay? Is she unconscious? Or is she- no don't think about that. She's just unconscious. It's just a little blood," _Ash thought.

Ash's midsection started hurting from gravity trying to pull him down and only being suspended by the cable. Ash thought that he could actually feel the bruise forming already.

"_How am I going to get out of this? Pikachu is obviously not going to be much help unless I can wake her." _

"Pikachu!" Ash screamed as loud as he could. He heard a bunch of Pokémon fly off at the sound of his scream. He tried again; "**PIKACHU!**" but he got no response.

"_Okay, She's out cold. I'm on my own here. How do I get us both out of here?"_

Ash strained to look back at the cable. It was sitting on a huge branch easily half-a-foot in diameter. The thick branch was about four feet above him. Ash looked back down and rolled his neck to try to relieve the pain in it.

"_No way that I'm going to be able to break that branch. I don't even know how I would be able to reach it. Maybe I could slip out of this cable thing."_

Ash threw his weight forward, but nothing budged. He then tried to push the thing off with his paws, but it only moved a tiny bit and all it accomplished was scraping some of his skin off. He felt his warm blood trickle under the cable. It really hurt. He bit his lip in pain.

He tried to produce a jolt of lightning to break the branch, but he couldn't even concentrate enough to produce a spark. He just couldn't do it. He was stuck and there seemed to be nothing he could do.

Ash was fueled with anger. Why did he have to turn into a Pikachu? Why did Team Rocket have to try to ruin everything? Why did he have to be stuck in this stupid tree? Why did his friends have to be such idiots? Why did he have to be stuck to such a dead weight, a weak dead weight at that?

"_I hate them. I hate them all. They all hold me back. If I never had them I would be a Pokémon master a long time ago. I wouldn't stop every four seconds for __their __needs. I would have plenty of time to improve. I would never be beat by jerks like Paul or Gary. I would show them up and make them cry. Why am I friends with all those selfish wastes of life? They don't even care about me! They say they do, but they all find reasons to leave me alone. How do they even have the nerve to call themselves my friends?"_

"**I HATE THEM! I HATE THEM ALL! I WISH THEY WOULD ALL DIE!**" Ash screamed.

Beyond words Ash thrashed in his constraints in a pure rage. He threw punches and kicks as hard as he could through the air. His tail thwacked again and again against the cable. Blood splattered on the ground far below. In his rage he didn't even feel the sharp constraint cutting him over and over again like a cheese grater. Sweat and blood ran off him in streams. After a couple minutes he fell limp.

Ash's anger was completely gone. He was completely empty. He felt absolutely nothing, but it didn't last long. A few seconds later everything then came flying back, the thoughts, the emotions, the words, and the pain.

Everything about him hurt. His body, his mind, his thoughts, and his emotions. He spit out a clod of blood from his mouth. He must have bitten his tongue without realizing it earlier. _"It hurts so much," _he thought in pain.

Ash broke down. Tears started streaming down his face. How could he have thought such horrible things? How could he have said such horrible things? Even about his friends and Pikachu? What was wrong with him? How could he want his friends to die? They were his closest friends and he had said he hated them. He was a monster.

The tears came faster.

"_I don't want to be a Pikachu anymore. I don't want to be stuck here. I don't want to hurt anymore. I just want to be traveling trying to get that next badge. I want to be a Pokémon Master. I don't want to have problems like these. I don't want to have to worry about my best buddy being dead. There I said it she could be dead for all I know. She could never wake up and it would be all my fault because I drank that stupid drink. If I never drank that thing I would of never turned into a Pikachu and I would have been able to protect her. But, noooo I had to drink the thing because I'm a stupid idiot too obsessed with my stomach and not logic. I should have noticed that the damn thing was glowing. I'm a horrible trainer. It's not my friends' fault that I am. It's my fault. Totally and completely mine. I'm the only one to blame. I can't even think of a way to get out of here. I couldn't even produce a thundershock. A thundershock! I bet if our roles were reversed that Pikachu would know what to do."_

His midsection was really burning now. It felt like someone had cut him open with a knife. He painfully looked down at his abdomen. Saying that someone had cut him open was a pretty accurate description.

Bright crimson blood was splatter all over his fur staining it. His fur was completely soaked with a mixture of blood and sweat making his fur appear to be orange. So much blood that it was dripping to the ground. The metal restraint was now painted red with it. Just the smell was enough to nauseate Ash.

"_Oh God there is so much blood. How can I have that much blood?" _Ash quickly looked away. The image was scarred in his head. The pain was much more intense now. Just seeing the cable soaked in blood that was starting to crust was enough to triple the pain.

All the agony was making it hard for Ash to breathe. He suddenly felt himself breathing in ragged heaves. Everything started to go black.

"_No I have to stay awake. I can't go under. I don't want to die. I don't want to. I don't want to be dead," _Ash screamed in his head. Despite his attempts against it everything faded to black.

…

"I thought you said they went this way, Brock!" Dawn said hotly.

"Well this is a huge forest. They could be anywhere in a still huge section of the forest. Did you expect me to just automatically know where they were?" Brock retorted.

"We should have gone the way I wanted at that fork in the path."

"I told you that, that path was just a backtracker."

"I don't think it was. I bet you just didn't want to admit that I was right."

They had been searching for Pikachu and Ash for over an hour and tensions were growing. They were scared. It was going to get dark soon and they hadn't found a single clue as to where Ash and Pikachu were. To top it off somewhere down the path they had gotten lost and they had left all their supplies at Thompson's place. Brock, Dawn, and Piplup were just a bunch of raw nerves. They had not a clue on what they should do. All they had accomplished so far was hurting each other's feelings.

Before they could go any farther Piplup interrupted, "Piplup piplup pip-lup!" You could tell just how well his message got across by the looks on their face.

"Piplup is right. We need to work together if we are going to get anything done. Yelling at each other does nothing to improve our problems." Brock said slowly.

"Pip piplup!" Piplup insisted.

"Fine, fine," Dawn said holding up her hands. "I'm sorry for hurting your feelings and assuming that I was right."

"And I'm sorry for also hurting your feelings and not listening to your opinions."

"Piplup."

"Okay, how about we continue the way we are going? If we trying going in a different direction we might end up going over places we already have gone. We can't waste any time. We have less than three hours to get the vial to Ash." Brock suggested.

"I say we head a different direction, although. I think we have gone to far into the forest. I don't think it is possible that they could have soared this far in. I say we head back, but this time way over to the right,"

"Aaaaarh, Too many choices. For all we know Pikachu and Ash are back at Thompson's. How about instead of us trying to find them we let them find us?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we go back to Thompson's and get are stuff. It's getting dark out here anyways and we'll need flashlights. If they saw our flashlight beams they could come find us."

"That's a great idea, but how are we going to get out of this forest?"

"Well…um… we'll follow the sun. The sun sets in the same direction as his lab should be."

"We have to hurry then. By the time we get back we'll be really short on time then."

"Okay, come on then let's hurry."

…

Pikachu groaned rubbing her aching head. Where was she and why did her middle hurt so much? She opened her eyes. "Holy sh*t," She screamed. She was in the middle of the air. Seeing as she wasn't falling she realized that the cable must have been holding her up. She tried to turn around to see the cable, but only managed to catch a glimpse of it. From what she saw she could tell that it was hanging off a thick branch on a tree. Looking back down she could tell that it was easily 20 feet off the ground.

"_Ash!" _She suddenly realized. _"Where is he?" _Looking to the left she saw only open air, but when she looked to the right she saw a ghastly sight. Ash was completely encrusted with drying blood. It look like someone had slaughtered him then strung him up. She couldn't take her eyes away from the nasty spectacle before her. In fact she hadn't even realized she had been screaming this whole time until she suddenly became aware that she couldn't breathe.

Taking in a huge breath seemed to break the spell because she swiftly looked away. The harsh metallic scent of blood assaulted her nostrils. She couldn't stand it so she tried to breathe through her mouth and resist the urge to puke.

"_What happened to him? Is… is he okay?" _She wondered.She forced herself to look back at his bloody body. After a couple seconds she saw that he was indeed breathing. Lightly yes, but still breathing nonetheless. _"Okay, he's fine for now. He's out cold for now. If that scream didn't wake him he's not waking till he's ready. All right now I got to find a way to get us out of here."_

Pikachu looked again above her this time trying to suck in every detail. She saw that the cable was hanging roughly three-and-a-half feet above them. No way that she could actually reach it or at least she thought. She tried to wiggle free of the restraint, but she soon found it cutting into her stomach. "_Well that I guess explains what happened with Ash, but not why it's so much so," _she thought.

She looked back at the cable and then to Ash. _"I guess either the cable comes off the branch or the branch breaks. One or the other. I could send a thunderbolt through the cable and break the branch, but that would also shock Ash. And then you have to think about that fall too. Well if the cable is going to come off it will have to move to the end of the branch." _Pikachu looked up. She saw that the branch continued for another good ten feet. _"Aaaaarh, that doesn't look any good either. I guess we could wait for Brock and Dawn to find us, but I don't know how long I've been out… wait… I'm a dummy. Why didn't I think of this earlier?" _

Pikachu looked up at the red sun to see that it was setting. _"If the sun is setting that makes it about 8'oclock. That means I've been out for two hours! No. If they were going to find us they would have already found us. We're on our own. Okay focus on the task on hand." _

Pikachu thought about it, but had no ideas whatsoever. Her whole entire midsection was really starting to ache now that she had been stuck in this position for so long. Pikachu tried to adjust her self so it wouldn't hurt so much, but it just made the cable swing. _"That's it. I'll swing the cable until I can get to the top of branch! It will be like a giant swing."_

Pikachu began swinging back and forth. After she had been swinging for about three minutes she realized it was futile. There was no way that she would be able to swing that high.

Pikachu wanted to give up. Everything she thought of either wouldn't work or was too dangerous. It seemed like there was no possible way to get out the situation safely. _"I can't give up! I got to do this for Ash. He's always been there for me. Through every twist and turn. He's been there. If he were awake he would find a way to get me out of this. He's always been the one to save me. He'd do anything to save me. Anything. He isn't awake now so it's my turn to save him. This time I'll prove how much he means to me. If Ash could save me in all those impossible seeming situations then so can I. I just need to try harder! I can do anything if I try. Ash would agree__**. **__I'll be there for him no matter what. Just like he would be for me.__** I… will… not… give… up! **__Ash needs me!" _

With a surge of energy and confidence Pikachu swung forwards as hard as she could despite the restraint digging into her side. After three attempts her paw brushed the branch. On the fifth time she managed to grab hold. Pikachu pulled herself up onto the branch.

Everything then went terribly wrong from there. Now that she was on the branch the weight balancing them was uneven. Suddenly Ash's body was pulling her over the side. She tried desperately to grab onto a small branch attached to the larger one. The branch held for only a second before snapping and then she was falling.

Time slowed down. It was like she was falling in slow motion. Thoughts started flying through her head. _"I'm falling. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? Oh God. Oh God. Can I stop? Can I stop it somehow? Is there anything to grab onto? No. There is nothing around. Nothing. I have to do something. What if I hit the ground in an iron tail? That would take a lot of the impact out, but what about Ash? He'd still hit the ground. I'll just get him then. I'll grab ahold of him then use iron tail. It will work. At least I hope so."_

Pikachu looked below her and saw Ash falling still unconscious. Pikachu directed her body so it had less air resistance. She soon started soaring through the air faster. In no time she was next to Ash. She wasted no time in grabbing ahold of him. She hugged him tightly to her body. Then she turned her tail to iron and prepared to strike the ground. _"Oh God, I hope this works. This will really hurt if it doesn't. What are you talking about? It won't hurt. You'll be dead… I know."_

Suddenly the ground was before her. Pikachu closed her eyes. With all her might she swung her tail and it impacted with the Earth with all the force of a bomb exploding.

Dust, dirt, rocks, mud, and plants all flew into the air from the force of the impact. After they had rained back down Pikachu slowly opened her eyes. She was all right! She looked at Ash. He was all right too. She sighed in relief, but she wasn't relieved for long. Looking around her she saw that she had made a crater in the ground. It appeared to be five feet across and three feet deep. _"I made this? Shoot, I must have hit the ground a lot harder than I imagined." _

She softly put Ash on the ground next to her. She looked at his slightly grimacing face. He was out through the whole thing. _"Wonder what he'll think when he wakes up," _Pikachu wondered.

Pikachu tried to get off her tail, but couldn't. She looked down to see that her tail was at least six inches sunk into the ground and clay. She tried to pull her tail out of the ground, but she could not budge it from the position she was in. She desperately tried to struggle out of the ground, but she just got herself stuck even more. The ground seemed to be more like quicksand then anything else. Only instead of her sinking nonstop she only sank when she wiggled about. She was practically sitting on her tail. If she really stretched, her feet would touch the ground.

"_You have to be kidding. This can't be happening. I just got us out of a jam only to get us into another one. Shoot. Can today get any worse? Oh wait it's already getting dark. It's getting worse all ready. We're in the middle of a forest and it's getting dark. Who knows what kind of predators could be lurking around. Please wake up Ash. For the sake of us wake up soon, Ash."_

…

The first thing he noticed was the pain. So much pain. _"Am I dead?" _he wondered.

He soon realized he was laying on something that was soft, cold, and sticky. He opened his eyes to see mud and clay. Somehow he had got on the ground. Ash was utterly confused.

"_Am I dreaming? Is that why I'm on the ground? I don't think I am. It's too realistic. My side hurts really bad and all my senses seem to say that it's real. So did the branch break? Did I somehow fall to the ground and survive? That doesn't make any sense either. I couldn't of fell from that high and survived. There is no way. Maybe… maybe I'm like some kind of ghost. That's nonsense. I guess I'll just have to find out then." _

"Uuuurrh," Ash groaned trying to painfully push himself up.

"Ash?" A voice asked.

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled suddenly finding the strength to push himself up and turn around, pain completely forgotten. Upon seeing Pikachu Ash remembered everything that happened earlier. Ash just stood there looking at Pikachu for a few seconds. He tried to hold back all the emotions that were rushing him. The relief, the worry, the joy, the regret, the guilt, the fear, the pain, and worst of all the anger.

For the second time that day Ash broke down. Tears once again ran down his face. He ran forwards and enveloped Pikachu in a death grip of a hug. Ash rested his head on her shoulder and she did the same. Pikachu started crying too. She had had too much stress too.

"Pikachu you're okay. I thought you were dead. I thought you were gone. Oh God I've missed you. I was so upset. I'm so sorry this is all my fault. If I didn't drink the potion thing this would of never happed. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I don't want you to hate me. Please don't hate me. I'm sorry I got mad. I'm sorry I couldn't get you out of the tree. I'm so, so, so, sorry. I'm terrible I couldn't do anything right. I couldn't even protect you. I can't even control my emotions. I'm just a big cry baby. I don't what to do to fix it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Ash spewed in bursts.

Pikachu pushed Ash away so she could see his face. His eyes were terribly bloodshot and tears coated his face. Pikachu wiped the tears off her own face with her arm. She then delicately wiped the tears off his face; he didn't resist. She felt confused by what he said. What did he mean by hate?

"What do you mean about me hating you? I would never hate you."

Ash sniffed. "I was so mad earlier that I said I hated everyone including you. How could of I said that?

"Oh…" Pikachu said surprised.

"You hate me," Ash simply said.

"No, I don't hate you I was just surprised. I forgive you. We have all had are bad times."

They both stared at each other before embracing each other again. Ash rubbed his eyes with the back of his arm.

"Never tell anyone about this. Ever," Ash said seriously.

Pikachu laughed.

"What's so funny?" Ash asked.

"I don't know. I just never expected you to say that next," She giggled.

"Okay then, but seriously don't tell…shouldn't we get going then?" Ash said starting to turn around.

"First of all look around you. That's the first problem."

"What? What's wron- Oh my God what did you do?!" Ash said seeing the giant crater they were in.

"I'll tell you later, but we have a… uhhh… bigger issue first," Pikachu said blushing furiously and hoping Ash wouldn't notice.

"Well…umm…I…uhhh…kinda…"

"What is it?"

"I kinda got my tail stuck in the ground," She said in a single breath.

Ash looked at her tail and saw that it indeed was stuck in the ground. "Wait is that why you were a bit taller than me earlier? I knew I was taller!"

"Ash!"

"What?"

"Focus."

"Can't you get yourself out of there?"

"No, I'm stuck good."

"What am I suppose to do then?"

"I need you to pull my tail out. I can't reach my tail from the position I'm in. And be careful it's pretty muddy over here."

Ash stepped closer to Pikachu, "So I just yank it out?"

"Pretty much," Pikachu said feeling the blush creep back into her cheeks.

Ash grabbed ahold of her tail and pulled. With a slurping sound Pikachu's tail slowly started to come out of the mud. Before he could finish his feet slid out from under him and he feel on his back.

Pikachu thought it was really cute how Ash fell in the mud. She would never say that, but it was true.

"Gosh darn it, stupid mud." Ash said angrily. Ash stood back up and grabbed Pikachu's tail. This time he managed to finish the job without falling. As soon as Ash finished Pikachu sat down tired of being in the same position for that whole time. Pikachu wagged her dirty tail back and forth.

"_At least it's not broken." _She thought thankfully. She tried to wipe some of the dirt off, but it just smeared. She sighed.

"I bet I'd be a scary sight to behold," she said to herself.

Overhearing Ash said, "I think you look fine even covered in mud."

"Why thank you Ash. That's very kind of you," Pikachu felt her cheeks heating up for the millionth time today. _"Why can I not stop blushing? What is this feeling?"_

"It's just what I think," he said shrugging. "Are you ready to go? It's getting kinda dark outside. I'm sure that Brock and Dawn are getting worried by now."

"Yeah I'm ready," she said standing up. She felt the cable chafe against her side. "I hate this cable," she hit it with her fist listening to the ding it produced. "The thing keeps cutting into me."

"You have no clue," Ash said coldly.

Pikachu looked at all the crusted blood in his fur and flinched. _"Well, that's a sore spot." _Pikachu cringed realizing the irony of her last thought.

They managed to somehow scrabble their way up the slope of the crater without falling once. Leaving the crater they could see that the sun had already set.

It was annoying to walk at first. The cable dragging behind them kept getting caught on stumps and trees. Every time it got caught they would have to go back and fix it. Eventually Ash and Pikachu ended up walking shoulder to shoulder to minimize the chance of it getting stuck on anything.

…

Ash was surprised how long it took him to explain what had probably happened in less then ten minutes. Pikachu had told her half of the story and he was surprised at the amount of willpower and strength it had probably took her to save him. It made him feel worthless in comparison.

Ash waited for Pikachu's response. What did she think? Did she hate him? Ash didn't know. He was nervous.

"I think that you were alone and you were pushed over the edge. I think that you just needed to be able to break. Are you glad that you did?"

Ash thought about it for a moment, _" Am I glad that I had a breakdown? I think I am. I think I understood myself more in those couple of minutes then I have in the last year. As strange as it sounds I think it's true. Its like I could suddenly express everything I had been unable to do before."_

"Yes, I am."

"Then I think it's a good thing."

Ash was silent. He would have to think about this a lot in the future. He didn't know exactly how he felt yet. There were a lot of emotions to sort through. He had feelings that he didn't even have words for. Everything seemed to be complex beyond imagination in his head.

Pikachu stopped mid-step.

"What?" Ash asked trying to get to far ahead of the cable as to trip.

"Did you see that?" Pikachu said pointing off to their left.

After a moment Ash said, "Yeah I do. Should we go check it out?"

"For sure. Come on." Pikachu ran off towards the source of the light. Ash followed closely as to not get dragged along.

…

Pikachu couldn't believe what she saw. Right in front of her was Brock, Dawn, and Piplup all with flashlights.

"I can't believe it," She whispered to Ash.

"Me neither. I thought we were going to have to go all the way back to the lab," Ash whispered back.

"Well this is great!"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because now we can be carried. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. Come on lets go meet them."

Pikachu ran out of the bush they were in. Ash followed after her.

"Brock, Dawn!" Pikachu called out.

Hearing her they all turned their heads towards her. They gasped when they saw Ash and Pikachu covered in blood and grime.

"Are you two alright?" Dawn asked in concern.

"Good enough for now, thank you very much." Ash told her.

Dawn gasped, "He's talking Pikachu now! Quick give him the vial."

"_Vial? What vial?" _Ash wondered.

"Wait. We have to get them out of these cables first." Brock then pulled out a beaker of a bubbling green substance.

"Where did you get that?" Dawn asked accusingly.

"I figured we might need this. This is what I went back in for. This should dissolve the cables holding them together. I'm sure Thompson would understand why I borrowed it."

"Whoa, I'd agree to almost anything to get out of this restraint, but this seems a bit dangerous." Ash's pleas went unnoticed as Brock quickly poured a bit of the serum onto both Ash's and Pikachu's restraint.

After some fizzing and bubbling the restraints fell off. Ash and Pikachu sighed in relief, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on Brock. Brock looked even more worried now then before. Brock was staring at the huge cuts all over Ash's midsection.

"Do you know how bad those cuts are, Ash?" Brock asked pulling out some hyper potions.

Ash shook his head.

"I'm surprised you're even awake. How much pain are you in?"

"It hurts a lot," Ash said trying not to think about it. It only really hurt when he thought about it.

"I'm guessing that means it really hurts. Okay just don't look down." Brock said aiming his hyper potion at Ash.

"Why not?" Ash said looking down.

Ash wished that he hadn't his whole midsection looked like a crusty piece of sliced cheese. The pain spiked to an uncontrollable level. He felt himself fading out again. _"Why must this keep happening?" _Then he was out.

…

Ash's eyes rolled up into his head. If Pikachu hadn't been there to catch him he would have fallen on his face.

"Okay, Pikachu hold him up until this bottle is completely empty." Brock said gesturing to the hyper potion.

Brock then began to spray Ash all over with the hyper potion. She watched keenly as the wounds seemed to heal by magic. All that was left were scars, but the dried blood stayed. She always found potions amazing, yet she also hated them. Just from the excess that hit her wounds she could feel its sharp sting.

In no time Ash's wounds were gone and not soon after that so were Pikachu's. All they needed now was a good bath to get rid of the grime completely covering them from head to toe.

Once Brock was done he pulled out an awakening and used it on Ash. Ash's eyes tried to shut tighter.

"I don't want to wake up, Mom," he mumbled.

Pikachu grabbed ahold of him by the shoulders and softly shook him. "Wake up, Ash, it's not nap time."

"Uhhh, What do you want, Pikachu…Pikachu?" Ash said eyes going wide. Ash then flew into a sitting position.

"Remember?" Pikachu tried to help him.

After a second you could see the gears click in Ash's head. "I-I remember now."

"Good now drink this," Brock said quickly handing him the open vial and a blanket.

Before he could think about what he did he took both the blanket and the vial. He then sucked down the liquid. A look of disgust appeared on his face. "What on Earth did you just give me? That tasted nasty. What was it even for?" Ash screamed throwing the vial down on the ground.

"You'll see. Let's give Ash his space," Brock said walking a bit into the forest along with Piplup and Dawn. Seeing that Pikachu wasn't coming he said, "Come on Pikachu you too." Pikachu hesitantly followed Brock after looking back at Ash.

"What do you mean my space?" He asked, but no one answered.

Ash felt himself change. Ash felt immense pain, but before he could scream it was gone. One instant he was a pikachu, the next a human. A naked human at that. Ash quickly grabbed the blanket next to him and wrapped himself with it. He looked around and found his backpack that Brock must have brought. He shuffled through his bag and pulled out his clothes. He quickly got dressed and stood up.

"Okay, guys you can come back now." Ash called out.

A couple of seconds later Pikachu burst out of the foliage and jumped into Ash's arms.

"Hey buddy," Ash said hugging Pikachu. He rubbed her head and got some dried blood on his hand, but he didn't care. He was already dirty.

Soon Dawn, Brock, and Piplup came out to.

"You want to explain what happened?" Dawn asked looking at Ash who was still completely covered in blood and grime.

"Nothing much I guess," Ash said laughing.

Brock and Dawn looked at each other and shrugged. Everyone then started to head their way to Thompson's lab. They didn't want to be in this forest anymore. It held too many bad memories.

…

Brock never made sure that Ash drank it all. If he had he would have noticed the couple of glistening drops still left in the vial that Ash threw onto the ground. For the good or the worse he forgot to check.

…

**END!**

**A/N: Read and Review. Sequel?**


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